Sidetracked Brewery

It’s Monday and you’ve had a rough day back at work after a relaxing weekend. You need a place to relax and wind down from your day. Or it’s a Friday or Saturday night and you need a place to hangout with your friends and enjoy some quality time. Or, you’re at home waiting for your favorite team sport to come on TV broadcast for the day and you need a nice cold drink to wash down your game day food as you cheer on your team from a growler or cans of beer from a local brewery. Then I highly suggest checking out Sidetracked Brewery located at 609 S Green St. STE 100 in Morganton, North Carolina right next to the historic Morganton Railroad Station.

Owners Joseph and Jessica Ackerman have really knocked this place out of the park. When you walk into Sidetracked Brewery you will notice instantly that it has a warm, dark, feel good, cozy vibe from the low feeling ceilings to the brick and industrial walls with exposed piping. Another thing you will notice right. Another thing that greets guest as they walk into Sidetracked is that you can see the brewing tanks for their beer and watch as Joseph tends to his beers multitude of beers that they offer on tap. Sidetracked, keeping with their name has a railroad theme throughout from their decorations to their beer names. You’ll find railroad photos, signs and even actual rail under your feet at the bar. If you’re a rail-buff like I am, you’ll enjoy the little details like that.

Sidetrack Brewery offers beers of many varieties, ranging from IPAs, sours, blonde ales, hefeweizens, Irish red ales and Irish stouts. Along with seasonal and specialty brews as well. Such as Butterbeer, Girl Stout Cookie (a minty beer much like the popular cookie), Pickle beer and other differently delicious beers. Names of the beers go from Thomas the Dank Engine, Whistleblower Sour, Lightrail Blonde, Crosstie Brown and Knucklethrower IPA. Personally I’m all about some sour beers or hefeweizens, so anytime I’m there you can find me sipping on one of the two. Also, Sidetrack Brewery has some great cider beers as well, so I’ll sip one of those as well every now and then.

When Covid-19 isn’t happening events such as sign language classes, corn hold tournaments and darts tournaments can be found happening on a weekly basis.

So if you are looking for a new spot to drink some brews and enjoy your time while doing so. I highly recommend you swing by and give them a try.

- Ben

Mountain Burrito

After a long hike in the Linville Gorge or a day-spent swimming at Wilson Creek, or just a day at the office, there is nothing better than a nice burrito, plate of nachos or some tasty tacos. And to get my fix, I head to Mountain Burrito in Morganton, North Carolina. Owner, Bryan Drake is a wizard in the kitchen. From his flavorful meat options to his masterminded salsas, you will not leave Mountain Burrito without already planning your next return visit.

So you’ve decided to visit Mountain Burrito, first things first, you will step up to order and realize that its much like an assembly line with the workers standing behind the counter passing your order down the line as you tell them what toppings you would like on your entrée. You’ll pick if you want a burrito, nachos, a naked burrito, or tacos (soft of hard) first. Oh and don’t forget there might be a daily special that is seriously, what you should get if Bryan has one up on the blackboard as your walk in the door on the left wall. If you are there on a Tuesday during lunch, I suggest getting the fish tacos. Or if you are really lucky, Bryan will have chili as an option for the day. Just trust me on this you will want either! Once you pick your entrée, you will then pick if you want pork, chicken, steak or chorizo. Don’t worry vegetarians, you can also go completely vegetarian here as well. Once you pick your meat topping, you will then pick if you want black beans or pinto beans or grilled onions. There are a few other options here as well; such as seasonally Bryan offers potatoes. Then your plate will be handed on to the cold veggies and salsa toppings portion of the assembly process. Above the counter is a blackboard with a list of hand written toppings and salsas to choose from. Mountain Burrito salsas, vary from mild salsa to hot. From regular tomato based salsas, to seasonal fruit and veggie salsas. My usual order is steak nachos, a little bit of black beans, pickled onions, regular chopped onions, cabbage, shredded cheese along with the already smothered on queso cheese. Lastly I put on a mixture of chipotle sauce and tomato ranch for the perfect combo of food. Then once I pay and grab my food, I will stop by the big stand up table in the center of the restaurant and poor on some garlic oil that’s available there for the customer to put on as much as they would like. I’m a garlic fan and if you are as well, you’ll love Mountain Burrito. If you don’t love garlic, you will still love Mountain Burrito as well. The flavors of Mountain Burrito’s food is spot on and will leave you making return, after return visit to eat at this vibe of a spot located just outside of downtown Morganton. So if you are ever in the area, I highly, highly recommend grabbing some food and either eating at the outside picnic tables or grabbing it to-go and prepare to have an amazing lunch or dinner meal.

- Ben

Kings Mountain vs. Crest Volleyball - 12-8-2020

I was contracted by TPS Photography (Morganton, North Carolina) to photograph some high school volleyball action between Kings Mountain High School (Kings Mountain, North Carolina) and Crest High School (Shelby, North Carolina) at Kings Mountain High School. Both schools’ JV and Varsity teams were pretty stacked with some great players so it was set to be some great matches! With Covid-19 still around, everyone inside the gym was required to wear mask, even the players. So that makes for some interesting images that I know years from now I will look back on and remember the time life for all of us was just different. Anyways, these photos are to be used for both schools’ yearbooks. I had a great time photographing as the action was plenty as schools played their hearts out. Thanks to TPS for asking to photograph on behalf of you.

Two Dogs, One Child and one more on the way?! (Photo How-To)

A couple months ago, my wife Montanna and I announced that we were expecting a little boy to be born in March. So of course, being a photographer, I knew I had to announce my new baby through photography some how. Montanna and I brainstormed and decided to go with using a letter board, my step-son Remi, and the kicker, my two dogs in one image! Sounds crazy impossible right? I mean it’s shaping up to be the perfect storm for a meltdown and two lost dogs. Spoiler alert, we didn’t have any meltdowns and the dogs did much better than expected. Seriously, I knocked out making the photo in no less than 10 minutes. I’ll post the original image first, followed by the three unedited, straight out of the camera frames I used to make the one image. Yes, you read that right, I used three images to make the actual final image for our baby announcement. So enjoy this little glimpse into how our special image was produced.

Baby Curfman Announcement

Ever since my wife Montanna and I found out we were having a baby in June, I’ve basically become that sappy dad who finds any baby pretty darn cute. It’s amazing how having a baby will do that to you. But anyways, to get to the point, a fellow hiking friend of mine named Hannah contacted me about helping her create some baby announcement photos. Since Montanna and I had announced that we were having a little boy just a few months prior, I of course said “YES” and was excited to help someone else with the joy of telling the world about their expected little one. I met with Hannah and Shane at Oak Hill Iron + Wood in Oak Hill, North Carolina, where they both work. Shane’s parents own the company just outside of Morganton, North Carolina. The location was perfect as the leaves were just starting to turn their bright fall colors, and we were blessed with really comfortable temperatures to take photos in. It was perfect weather for a morning spent photographing in the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains. But enough talking from me, here are a few of my favorite photos from Hannah and Shane’s baby announcement.